1. Field of the Invention.
This invention pertains to data processing, and more particularly to carriers for transporting documents through high speed data processing machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
High speed processing of checks is essential to modern finance. A recent estimate published in the Wall Journal stated that 60 million people in the United States have checking accounts and they write 100 million checks a day. To handle the huge volume of checks, financial institutions have invested heavily in automated check processing equipment. Checks are imprinted with an elaborate system of coded magnetic information that identifies the depositor and the institution on which the check is written. High technology processing machines and overnight carriers speed checks from the institutions in which they are deposited to the institutions on which they were written. The entire process frequently takes only two business days.
However, problems are encountered if the institution on which the check was written finds there is not enough money in the checking account to cover the check. In that situation, it has to send the check back to the institution where it was deposited. Checks must also be returned for other deficiencies, such as missing signatures or expired dates. One source estimates the number of returned checks approaches one million per day. Processing return checks is slow and inefficient. There is no organized system of magnetic information encoded on the checks for expediting their return to the institutions of deposit. Each institution handling a return check on its way back to the institution of deposit endorses the check. Such endorsements often obliterate the original endorsement, dates, and trace numbers, thus making traceback very difficult.
To alleviate the problems associated with processing return checks, special envelopes or carriers for the checks have been developed. One known return carrier is the MICRA 2-13 transparent document carrier. That carrier is not entirely satisfactory, however, because it is open on one side, thus allowing loss of the check. In addition, the open side permits air to become trapped within the carrier; the trapped air interferes with machinery through which the carrier may be processed. One face of the MICRA 2-13 transparent document carrier is made of a transparent material so that the magnetic coded symbols on the face of the check are visible. However, there is no provision for encoding the symbols associated with the returning institutions. Also, the transparent material destroys all confidentiality associated with the check.
To preserve confidentiality, it has been proposed to make the carrier completely of opaque material. Holes are provided in one or more of the carrier panels so that the presence or absence of a document inside can be detected. However, the holes permit air to become trapped inside the carrier, thereby fouling the processing machinery.
Other known document carriers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,588,456; 3,431,404; and 2,693,909. Those carriers, however, suffer from the same general deficiencies as previously mentioned.
Thus, a need exists for a return check carrier which enables the check to be inexpensively and reliably processed through high speed equipment.